You use the scope resolution operator (::) to name something in a namespace, or in a class, or in a scoped enum; this is called qualified lookup.
#include <iostream>
namespace N
{
int x = 0;
}
int main()
{
std::cout << N::x << '\n';
}
Using it with a class usually means you're referring to some static member, because otherwise you'd generally be using objectInstance.member instead.
#include <iostream>
class C
{
public:
static int x;
}
int C::x = 0;
int main()
{
std::cout << C::x << '\n';
}
Though, within a non-static member function, there are still uses for ::, such as disambiguating between names that exist concurrently in different bases.
class Base
{
public:
void foo() {}
};
class Derived : public Base
{
public:
void foo()
{
// Do base version (omitting Base:: will just call this one again!)
Base::foo();
// Now maybe do other things too
}
};
int main()
{
Derived obj;
obj.foo();
}
… or for naming a non-static member in a scenario where an object context is not required:
#include <iostream>
class C
{
public:
int x;
}
int main()
{
std::cout << sizeof(C::x) << '\n';
decltype(C::x) y = 42;
}
It's needed with scoped enums because, well, they're scoped; that's the whole point of them. They don't leak into the surrounding scope but have their own which as a result you need to specify specifically.
enum class E
{
Alpha,
Bravo,
Charlie
};
void foo(E value) {}
int main()
{
foo(E::Alpha);
}
Some languages let you access static members of classes with the type name followed by ., just like you'd access non-static members of classes with the object name followed by .. C++ is not one of those languages.
By the way, this is legal:
#include <iostream>
class C
{
public:
int x = 42;
};
int main()
{
C obj;
std::cout << obj.C::x << '\n';
// ^^^ what?!
}
Adding scope resolution to x here is not necessary, because the language already knows from the obj. that you're asking for a member of a class C. But you can still add it if you want. It's just usually "done for you" in this case.
